Cheese Soufflé the Italian Way

A soufflé is for me the ultimate diet food. You might find that strange, but think about it. It’s light and fluffy, gorgeous, romantic, and smells amazing while cooking. Okay, it’s full of eggs, but mostly the whites. It’s low-carb, so it fits into my diet philosophy nicely. And I serve it as a main course, not a side. But is a soufflé Italian? The word, which comes from the French verb souffler, meaning to blow, obviously isn’t. The technique, as far as I can determine, is traditionally French, but the true lineage of many French and Italian dishes can be a sore subject, since many Italians believe that everything culinarily worthwhile was originally Italian. Italians certainly use the term on menus, and chefs there make some fine soufflés using, for instance, porcini, Parmigiano, ricotta, and zucca. How beautiful is the idea of a soufflé made with Italian flavors?

Sformato is a word you’ll find on Italian menus as well. It means a delicate, eggy, baked mold, firmer than a traditional soufflé, more a custard than a puff. A sformato is always set with eggs, but it may or may not have beaten egg whites folded in at the end. I love a sformata, but it’s not particularly diet-friendly. I make one with cauliflower that has the texture of a tender custard. I’ve also made a chicken liver sformata that’s firm, with a rich flavor heightened by sage and Parmigiano. Neither is meant to rise very much, and both contain cream, making them dense and rich, packing a lot of calories into a very small lump of food (and they’re generally thought of as first courses, so they’re just the start of the meal).

To fit with my Skinny Guinea format, I knew I wanted to go with a real soufflé, which, because of all the volume, gives you the feeling of eating a lot when you’re mostly consuming extremely delicious air. I longed for a soufflé flavored with great Italian cheese. I experimented with various types and found that what I liked best in a soufflé was a mix of Fontina Valle d’ Aosta and Piave, a cow’s milk cheese from the Veneto with a texture similar to Grana Padano and a taste that mixes Grana Padano with the sweetness of Gruyère.

To make a soufflé the centerpiece of a complete dinner that is still healthy and light, you might precede it, as I did, with a few breadsticks wrapped in prosciutto di Parma, and then serve the soufflé with this springtime salad of baby spinach and chives. If you can find chives with their soft purple blossoms attached, they will make the salad especially tasty and pretty.

Smear the softened butter all over the inside of a 8-inch-wide, 3-inch-deep soufflé dish. Dust the inside with the 2 tablespoons of Piave cheese.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a large saucepan, heat the 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the flour, whisking it until well blended into the butter. Let cook for about a minute, and then add the milk. Whisk over medium heat until the milk becomes thick and smooth, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the nutmeg, allspice, a generous amount of salt, and the piment d’espelette (or mix of paprika and a little cayenne). Pull the pan off the heat, and add the egg yolks, whisking them in one at a time. Mix in the Piave and the Fontina.

Beat the egg whites until shiny and stiff. With a spatula, fold about ¼ of the egg whites into the soufflé mixture to lighten it. Now lightly fold the remaining whites into the mixture. You don’t need to work them in completely evenly; a little streakiness is okay and better than over-mixing and deflating the whites. Pour the mixture into the prepared soufflé dish.

Turn the oven down to 375 degrees, and bake the soufflé for 30 minutes. It should be browned and puffy and fairly firm when you touch the center. Ideally, you want only a tiny bit of runniness in the middle when you open it up. Serve immediately, with the salad if you like.

Yes you can make a souffle. If you don’t over fold the egg whites, I assure you, your souffle will rise. And let it stay in the oven for the entire 30 minutes. Just because it’s high and browned doesn’t mean it’s completely cooked. It shouldn’t be too runny in the middle.

Lovely. For an extra layer of flavor, try infusing the milk with onion (or even garlic), black pepper, dry mustard, salt, nutmeg & red pepper (opt. cloves). Bring it all not quite to a boil (just bubbles on the edge), then let the milk cool and soak up the flavors (I usually do this earlier in the day, then refrigerate). Strain, then rewarm the milk to add to the roux. It makes a difference.

More importantly, your sformata recipes sound brilliant — maybe you could post some as we enter the cold weather and heartier food months? Thanks.

Erica,
amazing post that I enjoyed reading, and also a recipe that is a joy to replicate (well described). My question to you: are soufflé French or Italian as well. I am asking this because I see lots of soufflés in Italian restaurants throughout Italy and in those restaurants, absolutely nothing is French. Which makes me think that souflé is also Italian. What’s your take on this? Thanks

So glad you liked the post. I believe the classic, high, light as air souffle is in fact French. A traditional Italian sformata (which is what a souffle like dish is usually called in Italy) in not quite the same thing. It tends to be more compact, less delicate. When one gets a real old fashioned souffle in an Italian restaurant, I believe its origin is French, but it will often include Italian ingredients.

I’m really impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog.
Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself?
Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing, it’s rare to see
a great blog like this one nowadays.

Welcome to Ericademane.com

I am a chef, food writer, and teacher who specializes in improvisational Italian cooking. I am the author of The Flavors of Southern Italy and Pasta Improvvisata, as well as Williams-Sonoma Pasta, which is available at Williams-Sonoma stores. A member of the Association of Culinary Professionals and the Italian-based International Slow Food Movement, I live in New York City. I offer private cooking classes, which you can learn about here.